Great Flood of 2011 *sigh*

 I took Princess Sunshine and the Boybarian to piano lessons today and came home to a garage with 4-5 inches of standing (and expanding) water from a burst water pipe.

We all got a work out bailing water (the drain seems to be plugged) and sorting through wet boxes.

We got the water turned off to most of the house (since most of the water runs past the broken pipe) and the Army Guy ran to Home Depot after work to get a new shut off valve. He took about 10 minutes and had it fixed (I love that guy).

I love having my quilt machine back home!

My quilting machine had a need for some TLC so it spent many weeks in Cleveland...the part had to be shipped to the company from there and then shipped back to the service guy. And then I had to find a day to get back over to bring the Voyager back home.

 Since the Army Guy had Friday off (four day weekend because of the federal holiday on Monday) he took me out for the day. We picked up the machine, went out to lunch and spent some time (and $$) in Borders and then headed home.

I got the machine loaded on the frame this morning and prepped the baby quilt :)

I spent a bit of time reacquainting myself with the art of frame quilting by quilting the baby quilt this afternoon. Oh, what fun! Baby quilts take almost as much time to load as they do to quilt, so I have the quilting done and will bind it tomorrow afternoon (if I don't nap too long!).

By Monday I'll have my cousin's quilt loaded and will be quilting it. I'm SO glad to have the machine fixed :)

First Monday I'm home this year...and what is on my Design Wall

Since I was traveling last Monday, I didn't have anything on my design wall and was unable to post. I also haven't been doing a lot of sewing as I have my quilting machine in the shop and I really hate the thought of quilt tops taking over my sewing dungeon (at least that is my excuse).

I did get some quality time with my Bernina over the weekend. It felt SO good!

Since I will want something quick and easy to get the feel of quilting on the frame back...I started on a baby quilt. I fell in love with this daisy print and pulled a brown dot and a pink gingham to coordinate and started up. It was hard to leave it unfinished but I had to move on to feeding the family, so there it is, unfinished on my design wall.

I am looking forward to later in the week when my Voyager comes home and we can quilt this quilt. I have a lovely black and white from my cousin that is first in the queue. I am excited to work on her quilt...have my freemotion design worked out and that is always when I get excited. Does working out the quilting design do that for you?

Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times.

Procrastination

 

do you procrastinate? I sure do! Today is clean the refrigerator and freezer day...and I have been doing anything else in the world. I've read Motor Trends magazine, uploaded a silly video from our Christmas holidays, researched how to clean my bathtub stains, took a couple of online surveys, helped the Boybarian make some Comfrey Salve...I should maybe spend some quality time with my sewing machine, too, don't you think?

OK, back to cleaning out the refrigerator *sigh* it will still be there no matter how many other things I do in the meantime.

Merry CHRISTmas!

It is that time of year when I run around like a chicken with it's head cut off (not that I've ever seen such a thing). I seem to overbuy for one person's stocking while being a bit short on the next one. I promise myself that I will finish these projects and then avoid them by doing other things. I am frazzled!

So, we try to take the focus off the busyness of Christmas every year (I don't always succeed) and focus on the reason we are celebrating. This year we are reading Tabitha's Travels for our Advent story. This is one of three Advent stories by Arnold Ytreeide. Almost every night there is a cliff-hanger, making children eager to hear more in these action packed stories. Each evening, though, the wrap up of the story points back to Jesus in some way (even though we don't see Him until Christmas).

What a way to celebrate! Make everything focus on Jesus. Whether or not he was born on December 25, it is the one day we set aside to remember His miraculous birth and what a difference He has made in our lives. If He hadn't been born to die, I would still be stuck in my sin, separated from God forever.

Hallelujah! Glory to God in the Highest! For Unto Us A Child Is Born!

My White Christmas dream has come true because the Lamb of God has washed me whiter than snow :)

May your Christmas be blessed with His Love!

Yes, that is our tree, complete with a tipsy quilted angel on top. The children decorated it one afternoon while The Army Guy and I were doing other things.

Exclusive Showing....at Midnight

We were the only people to show up for the 12:01 am showing of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader this morning. We had a great time and enjoyed the movie A LOT! The children should remember this as a very happy family memory (and not just mandatory fun).



They got Eustace Scrubb right :) Caspian is the right age :) And the ending was right, too. It looked just like I imagined it from the first time I read the book (almost 40 years ago!).

No, it is not a visual of the book. They do veer a bit from the story by adding an element that is their vehicle for tie-ing the story together in the short time of a movie. There were also a couple of telling/not showing instances...again, I think this was so that the movie could move along. They also got some things out of order in the book's time-line, but that really didn't detract from the movie, IMO. While there were a few things *I* might have done differently, I think this was a great adaptation of the story as they kept the important elements.

It would be one we would like to see again (and would even pay to go see) and we will definitely be adding it to our home library when it is released :)

When are you going to see it?

VOTE!

Go on over to the Quilting Gallery and vote for your favorite Star Quilt. I'm hoping you will choose my quilt...

The Stars Sing :)